45
PCT/AI/ANF/5
page 11
the International Bureau. An Office or Authority or the International Bureau may, if it
wishes, submit a proposal for change that has been suggested to it by a third party. Proposals
for change may be submitted, preferably via the Web site, at any time during the year.
A proposal for change may be modified or withdrawn by the Office or Authority that
submitted it. Each proposal for change is published by the International Bureau on the Web
site as a “Proposal for Change” (PFC) file to which comments, modifications, etc., are
annexed. Exchanges of views on a proposal for change, if not annexed to the PFC file
concerned, are stored in an archive accessible via the Web site.
Each proposal for change must set forth the requested modifications of the text and/or
figures concerned, a list of items that may be impacted, the reason, including processing or
policy issues involved, and the proposed date of implementation, including, if appropriate, a
request for expedited handling, and should also, if possible, include a draft implementation
(for example, a new XML DTD). It shall preferably also indicate if, in the view of the person
making the proposal, the proposal is of a mere technical nature, or of a legal and technical
nature.
Consideration of proposals for change would ordinarily proceed under the (standard)
annual change management cycle in accordance with section 2.5.4. If needed, generally on
request by the proposer, the International Bureau may determine, after consultation with the
Consultative Group, that consideration of a proposal for change should be expedited in
accordance with section 2.5.5. It is to be understood that consideration of any proposal for
change resulting from a change to a PCT Contracting State’s national law relating to the
standards contained in this Annex would be expedited.
2.5.4 Annual change management cycle
1. Each proposal for change received by the International Bureau is published on
the Web site, forthwith after its receipt, in a PFC file together with an indication
that comments on the proposal may be sent to the International Bureau. That
publication is promptly notified by e-mail to the e-filing information list.
2. Any comments received from interested parties following the publication and
notification of a proposal for change referred to in section 2.5.3 are promptly
published on the Web site in the PFC file and notified by e-mail to the e-filing
information list.
3. Further consideration of the proposal does not take place until the following
February, unless expedited consideration is accorded to the proposal under
section 2.5.5.
4. On or promptly after February 15, the International Bureau publishes on the
Web site a list of all pending standard proposals for change and references to the
relevant PFC files, with an indication that comments may be sent to the
International Bureau by March 31, and sends a notification by e-mail to the e-
filing information list. The International Bureau also sends a written circular to
all PCT Offices and Authorities, interested intergovernmental organizations and
certain non-governmental organizations representing users, referring to the Web
site, inviting comments by March 31 and advising that paper copies of the
proposals for change are available from the International Bureau.
43
PCT/AI/ANF/5
page 12
5. Any further comments received by the International Bureau are published,
forthwith after their receipt, in the PFC file on the Web site and notified by e-
mail to the e-filing information list.
6. Promptly after March 31, the International Bureau invites the Consultative
Group to consider the pending proposals for change and comments, and the
Consultative Group makes recommendations to the International Bureau by
May 15. The recommendations are published forthwith in the PFC file on the
Web site and notified by e-mail to the e-filing information list.
7. Taking into account the comments received and the recommendations of the
Consultative Group, and after any necessary revision, the International Bureau
publishes on the Web site, by June 30, modifications intended to come into force
on January 1 of the following year or, exceptionally, before that date, and sends
a notification by e-mail to the e-filing information list.
8. The usual procedures for promulgation of modifications of the Administrative
Instructions apply (written circular and publication in the PCT Gazette).
9. If applicable, new or revised requirements of Offices are notified to the
International Bureau, as provided for in Section 710 of the Administrative
Instructions, for publication in the PCT Gazette.
2.5.5 Expedited consideration of change proposals
1. At any time, on request or at its own initiative, the International Bureau may
decide that a proposal for change should be accorded expedited consideration,
even if the proposal for change has so far been treated as standard.
2. Each proposal for change which is accorded expedited consideration is
published on the Web site for comment and notified by e-mail to the e-filing
information list, as outlined in section 2.5.4, paragraphs 1 and 2, except that
comments are invited within six weeks. At the same time as that publication, the
International Bureau sends the written circular referred to in section 2.5.4,
paragraph 4, inviting comments within six week. Any comments received
within six weeks are published, forthwith after their receipt, in the PFC file on
the Web site and notified by e-mail to the e-filing information list.
3. In parallel to the actions referred to in paragraph 2, the International Bureau
invites the Consultative Group members and observers to consider the proposal
for change and any subsequent comments received during the six week period
referred to in paragraph 2, and to make any recommendation before the end of
that six week period, including a recommendation, if applicable, as to the
appropriate date of entry into force of the proposed modifications. The
recommendations are published forthwith in the PFC file on the web site and
notified by e-mail to the e-filing information list.
4. Taking into account the comments received and the recommendations of the
Consultative Group members and observers, and after any necessary revision,
the International Bureau publishes the modifications, and their date of entry into
42
PCT/AI/ANF/5
page 13
force, on the Web site, and sends a notification by e-mail to the e-filing
information list.
5. The modifications are promulgated, and any new requirements of Offices are
notified and published, as outlined in section 2.5.4, paragraphs 8 and 9.
2.5.6 Version handling
Where the practice and the technical systems of the recipient Office so permit, earlier
versions of certain aspects of the standard (notably, DTDs and the E-filing interoperability
protocol) may operate simultaneously for a limited period of time. Each version should be
clearly identified by the appropriate version number.
3.
E-PCT SUBMISSION STRUCTURE AND FORMAT
Electronic international application submissions contain many different types of
documents and information. Text, images and sequence listings can all be printed on paper,
but each of these requires a different electronic representation. For example, text can be
stored in “character codes” while images can be stored in grids of picture elements called
“bitmaps”. The concept is further complicated by the fact that most information can be stored
in multiple electronic formats. Sequence listings can be stored as plain text. Printed text can
be optically scanned and stored as an image.
In addition to format, the structure (or lack of structure) of information can have a
large impact on the ability of automated systems to facilitate processing of the information.
Images of typed pages of text have no electronic text structure and must be electronically
“recognized” or hand-keyed by a human operator before they can be searched.
On the other hand, text and other information can be structured to enforce business
rules and associate information with meaningful business identifiers. The format specified by
this standard for such structured text is called XML (eXtensible Markup Language).
Using XML, computer systems can identify specific pieces of information and reach
new levels of capability. For example, if an international application has been structured in
XML according to the E-PCT standard, a computer system could automatically display the
first claim; it could link figure references to the actual figure (within drawings); it could
hyperlink patents and other types of citations to the actual patents and documents.
Publication and information retrieval systems also gain significant capabilities from structured
documents.
In addition to structured information within an electronic format, international
application submissions may contain documents that are composed of multiple types of
information stored in multiple electronic formats. This collection of documents must have an
overall structure that allows computer systems to identify the type of document and each of its
components.
When designing automated information systems for document processing, electronic
format and structure is critical; it can either enable or inhibit processing. This section
describes the format and structure necessary for electronic IA documents to be compliant with
40
PCT/AI/ANF/5
page 14
the E-PCT standard. It specifies several allowable electronic document formats and the
manner in which they must be structured.
3.1 Allowable electronic document formats
This Annex is based on the principle of establishing an industry standards-based
environment for electronic exchange of IA documents. A notable result of this is: the
standard for submitting electronic documents emphasizes the use of open standards and will
not promote, as far as possible, proprietary vendor formats for electronic documents. The
reasons for this policy include avoiding the need to maintain multiple copies of electronic
filings in specific versions of proprietary electronic document formats over which Offices
have no control.
This standard requires the IA documents to be free from virus or other malicious logic.
Note that this standard also applies to other documents and correspondence relating to
international applications filed or processed in electronic form by virtue of Rule 89bis.2 and
AIs Section 713(b).
Any document in electronic form that is prepared or exchanged in accordance with
this standard shall be in one of the electronic document formats listed in sections 3.1.1 to
3.1.3 which are allowed under section 3.4 in the communication sector concerned. Note,
however, that section 3.4 permits, in the Office-Office communication sector, the sending
Office and the recipient Office to agree on the use of other types of electronic document
formats for IA documents filed on paper and converted into electronic form, except for the
record copy.
Applicants may present a nucleotide and amino acid sequence listing in any of the
electronic document formats listed in sections 3.1.1 to 3.1.3 which are allowed under
section 3.4 in the Applicant-Office communication sector. However, where the sequence
listing is not presented in the electronic document format specified in paragraph 40 of the
Standard for the Presentation of Nucleotide and Amino Acid Sequence Listings in
International Patent Applications under the PCT (see Annex C of the Administrative
Instructions and WIPO Standard ST.25, and section 3.1.1.2, below; hereinafter referred to as
“Annex C/ST.25 text file”), the competent International Searching Authority and the
International Preliminary Examining Authority may, for the purposes of the international
search and of the international preliminary examination, respectively, invite the applicant to
furnish to them a sequence listing in that electronic document format (see Rule 13ter) (see
also paragraph 42(iv) of Annex C of the Administrative Instructions with regard to the right
of designated or elected Offices to invite the applicant to furnish a sequence listing in that
electronic document format).
Where a table is contained in an international application, the spatial relationships
(e.g., columns and rows) of the table elements shall, irrespective of the electronic document
format in which the table is presented, be maintained.
40
PCT/AI/ANF/5
page 15
3.1.1 Character coded formats
3.1.1.1
XML
All documents in XML format must conform to their corresponding DTDs (Document
Type Definitions) specified in Appendix I.
The coded character set for all documents in XML format must be confined within that
specified by International Standard ISO/IEC 10646:2000 (Unicode 3.0). The standard
character encoding scheme for XML documents is UTF-8.
In addition , each receiving Office may specify a character encoding scheme as
described in IETF RFC 2277 (Internet Engineering Task Force Policy on Character Sets and
Languages) and IETF RFC 2130 (Report of the IAB Character Set Workshop) and shall
inform the International Bureau of the specification. In this case, the following must be
defined:
(a) coded character set;
(b) character encoding scheme;
(c) translation rules between the coded character set and International Standard
ISO/IEC 10646:2000.
Example encoding schemes that conform to the above rules would be native-JIS and
shift-JIS.
For the Applicant-Office (international phase) communication sector, receiving
Offices must accept this format per the basic common standard. For the Office-Office
communication sector, Offices must be able to transmit and receive this format.
3.1.1.1.1 Paragraph Numbering in XML documents (description)
If the description part of an international application is encoded in XML format, the
paragraphs of that description part shall be numbered by a four-digit Arabic number, with
leading zeros where required, for example, [0099], enclosed in square brackets and placed to
the right of the left margin of the document.
If the number of paragraphs exceeds four digits, then the numbering of paragraphs
should increase by one digit, and so forth, according to need. For example, paragraph [10000]
follows paragraph [9999] and paragraph [100000] follows paragraph [99999].
3.1.1.2
Annex C/ST.25 text file
Any sequence listing presented as an Annex C/ST.25 text file (see paragraph 40 of the
Standard for the Presentation of Nucleotide and Amino Acid Sequence Listings in
International Patent Applications under the PCT (Annex C of the Administrative Instructions
and WIPO Standard ST.25)) must be included as a referenced document.
For the Applicant-Office (international phase) communication sector, receiving
Offices must accept this electronic document format in accordance with the basic common
35
PCT/AI/ANF/5
page 16
standard. For the Office-Office communication sector, Offices must be able to transmit and
receive this format.
3.1.1.3
ASCII
Any file in this format, if present, must be included as a referenced document.
For the Applicant-Office (international phase) communication sector, receiving
Offices shall notify the International Bureau whether they will accept documents in this
format, which documents they will accept in this format, and whether they will accept seven-
bit and/or eight-bit ASCII.
For the Office-Office communication sector, this format may not be included in
document packages, except when included in the original wrapped application documents
(WAD, see section 4.1.1) filed by the applicant, as part of the record copy (Applicant
Package, see section 5.2.2).
3.1.2 PDF
Any file in this format, if present, must be included as a referenced document.
All documents in PDF format must meet the following requirements:
(a) Adobe Portable Document Format Version 1.4 compatible;
(b) non-compressed text to facilitate searching;
(c) unencrypted text;
(d) no embedded OLE objects;
(e) all fonts must be embedded and licensed for distribution.
For the Applicant-Office (international phase) communication sector, receiving
Offices shall notify the International Bureau whether they will accept documents in this
format, including, where applicable, details as to the version(s) that are acceptable. In order
to accommodate Offices that do not accept documents in PDF format, any Office that chooses
to accept documents in this format must also convert the documents (that is, text and
drawings) to TIFF images and transmit the documents in both formats to the International
Bureau.
For the Office-Office communication sector, Offices shall notify the International
Bureau whether they will transmit or accept documents in this format, including details as to
the version(s) in use. For documents originally submitted in PDF format, Offices may request
transmission of the original documents in PDF format in addition to the converted documents
in TIFF format.
43
PCT/AI/ANF/5
page 17
3.1.3 Image formats
Images may be used for drawings, figures, equations or other illustrations, or scanned
documents. A receiving Office may choose to allow applicants to submit all or part of the
description or claims in image format.
3.1.3.1
Tagged Image File Format (TIFF)
Any file in this format, if present, must be included as a referenced document.
TIFF facsimile (black and white) images for use in IA document exchange must meet
the following requirements:
(a) TIFF V6.0 with Group 4 compression, single strip, Intel encoded.
(b) Resolution of either 300 or 400 dpi
(c) Maximum size: whole pages should be either A4
5
or Letter
6
size, however the
recommended maximum size is 255mm by 170mm.
For the Applicant-Office (international phase) communication sector, receiving
Offices must accept this format per the basic common standard. Images may be used for
drawings, figures, equations or other illustrations, and for the description and the claims. This
format is not intended to be used as a replacement for character-coded document formats.
For the Office-Office communication sector, Offices must be able to transmit and
receive this format. Images may be used for drawings, figures, equations or other
illustrations, and for the description and the claims. This format may also be used to transmit
scanned documents between offices in the form of page images.
3.1.3.2
JPEG File Interchange Format (JFIF)
Any file in this format, if present, must be included as a referenced document.
JFIF images for use in IA document exchange must meet the following requirements:
(a) Resolution of either 300 or 400 dpi
(b) Maximum size of 255mm by 170mm.
For the Applicant-Office (international phase) communication sector, receiving
Offices shall notify the International Bureau whether they will accept images in this format.
Images may be used for drawings, figures, equations or other illustrations. This format is not
intended to be used as a replacement for character-coded document formats.
For the Office-Office communication sector, Offices shall notify the International
Bureau whether they will transmit or accept images in this format.
5
A4 size = 210x297mm, with a maximum of 3307x4677 pixels at 400dpi.
6
Letter size = 215.9x279.4mm (8.5x11 inches), with a maximum 3400x4400 pixels at 400dpi.
38
PCT/AI/ANF/5
page 18
3.1.4 Pre-conversion formats
Documents in pre-conversion format submitted under AIs Section 706(a) or (f) must
be included as referenced documents.
For the applicant Office (international phase) communication sector, receiving Offices
shall notify the International Bureau whether they will accept the filing, under AIs
Section 706(a) and (f), of documents in pre conversion format and, if so, which
pre-conversion formats they will accept (see AIs Section 710(a)(iv)).
For the purposes of the procedure under AIs Section 706(b), any receiving Office
which chooses to accept documents submitted under AIs Section 706(a) or (f) in a pre-
conversion format which the International Bureau cannot process must transmit the document
concerned to the International Bureau in both an electronic document format which the
International Bureau can process and the original pre conversion format.
3.2 E-PCT document and submission structure
An international application submission may contain multiple documents, each with
text, drawings and sequence listings stored in multiple electronic document formats. In order
to accommodate the need for multiple electronic document formats while preserving a
structure that a computer system can understand, an E-PCT submission, including its
documents, must conform to the structure specified in this section.
In order to be in compliance with this requirement, each E-PCT submission must
contain an XML package data file that explicitly references the submission documents, and
must conform to the “package-data” DTD (Document Type Definition) as specified in
Appendix I, section 3.1. However, in the Office-Office communication sector, the sending
Office and the recipient Office may agree to use other types of structures for IA documents
filed on paper and converted into electronic form. In such case, the recipient Office should
inform the International Bureau accordingly. The referenced documents (e.g. the request and
the patent application) are logically part of the submission as such.
As shown in Figures 2 and 2bis, the referenced documents (external entities) are
typically the request, the application (description, claims), the priority documents, etc. which
in turn may contain images, tables, drawings which are separate but related objects that may
be encoded as either XML, PDF, ST.25, ASCII or image formats (TIFF or JFIF). Each
document in XML format shall conform to one of the DTDs specified in Appendix I, except
for referenced “other-documents”, where a receiving Office may choose to accept documents
in XML format conforming to DTDs not specified in Appendix I, in which case the Office
shall notify those DTDs to the International Bureau. The version of the DTD must be set in
the “DTD VERSION” attribute of the document in XML format (as specified by the DTD
itself).
33
PCT/AI/ANF/5
page 19
XML package data
Referenced documents
Note: all referenced XML documents may point to other documents formatted in PDF
package-data
xml
xml
request
xml
application-body
xml
fee-sheet
xml
power-of-attorney
st-25
sequence list
xml, pdf, tiff, jfif, wad, wsp
other-documents
tiff, jfif, pdf
drawing/image
tiff, jfif, pdf
drawing/image
xml
declaration
xml
amendment-request
xml
biological-deposit
xml
table
Figure 2 - Example of E-PCT IA structure where the text of the description,
claims and abstract is in character coded format (in XML format)
54
PCT/AI/ANF/5
page 20
XML package data
Referenced documents
Note: all referenced XML documents may point to other documents formatted in PDF
package-data
xml
xml
request
xml
application-body
xml
ro-request-receiving-info
xml
fee-sheet
xml
power-of-attorney
st-25
sequence list
xml, pdf, tiff, jfif, wad, wsp
other-documents
tiff, jfif, pdf
drawing/image
pdf
fee-sheet
tiff, jfif, pdf
drawing/image
pdf
claims
pdf
description
pdf
abstract
pdf
request
Figure 2bis - Example of E-PCT IA structure where the text of the description,
claims and abstract is not in character coded format (but in PDF format)
3.3 Electronic signature
For IA document exchange, a number of electronic signature types (see AIs
Section 701) are permitted by this standard. Each receiving Office shall notify the IB which
types of signature it will accept.
The sections below describe these types of signatures, categorized as basic and
enhanced electronic signatures.
7
At this time, this standard does not support the use of
multiple enhanced electronic signatures but it does support the use of multiple basic electronic
signatures.
3.3.1 Facsimile signature
To create this type of signature, an XML file (e.g. the request) must include the <fax>
element and an external entity reference set in the FILE attribute that points to a TIFF file
containing a bitmap of the signature. The TIFF file must meet the requirements as described
in section 3.1.3.1.
7
For definitions of “basic electronic signature” and “enhanced electronic signature,” see section 9.
Documents you may be interested
Documents you may be interested
